A couple have won a lengthy legal battle over the noise from a motor sports stadium near their former home as the highest court in the land has ruled that it is a “nuisance”.

The Supreme Court allowed an appeal by Katherine Lawrence and Raymond Shields to claw back compensation for the noise they suffered at their home at Fenland, Cooks Drove, in West Row, which is just 560 metres from Mildenhall Stadium, home of the successful Fen Tigers speedway team.

The victory is the latest in a long-running saga which saw the couple awarded £20,000 in damages from the stadium operators by the High Court in 2011 but they were later stripped of the award by the Appeal Court in 2012.

Ms Lawrence and Mr Shields lived at the property between January 2006 and May 2010 when a digger crashed into an oil tank causing their home to flood with oil. It was rendered uninhabitable by fire a month later.

In November they asked Lords Neuberger, Mance, Clark, Sumption and Carnwath to overturn the Appeal Court ruling and compensate them for the noise nuisance they say they suffered at their home.

The five law lords gave a unanimous decision in London today on a challenge to the Appeal Court’s stance which was heard last November.

Ms Lawrence and Mr Shields claimed they had no idea, when they bought their former home at West Row near Mildenhall, that they were moving less than one kilometre away from a noisy motorsports stadium.

Lord Neuberger, giving the Supreme Court’s main ruling, said: “There is no question of the respondents being able to rely on the fact that the appellants came to the nuisance, or any other similar argument.

“The appellants used their property, Fenland, as a residence, which was the same purpose to which it had been put ever since before the activities currently carried on at the Stadium and the Track had started.”

The stadium owners claimed that they had become immune from proceedings as the activities had been continuing for at least 20 years.

However, Lord Neuberger said that the evidence “fell well short” of establishing this.

He said that, when and if the matter goes back before the judge for further consideration, he should be entitled to consider whether to discharge the injunction and award damages for future nuisance instead.

They will also be entitled to an injunction restricting activities at the stadium once their home is rebuilt following fire damage.

At the High Court, Ms Lawrence and Mr Shields won more than £20,000 in damages from the operators of motor sports at Mildenhall stadium.

However, the Court of Appeal later stripped them of their award, finding that motorsports were well-established at the stadium before the couple bought their home and rejected their claim.

The news has shocked members of the Mildenhall Fen Tigers speedway team, whose chairman said the matter had been “a cloud hanging over the stadium”.

Club Chairman Kevin Jolly said: “This is obviously a big disappointment for the Stadium Owners who had hoped today would bring an end to this matter and remove a cloud that has been hanging over the stadium before we took over the running of the Fen Tigers.

“It now remains an ongoing case that will now go through the courts once again.

“However, as far as we are concerned nothing changes with regard to Mildenhall Speedway and we will continue to run until it is no longer possible should that day ever arrive.

“Everything is in place for the start of the season, we are looking forward to this year with great enthusiasm, we have a fine looking young side full of potential and I can’t wait for the season to start.”